Thus, steakswere treatedwith lower nitrite
levels (100–350 ppm spray solutions) in Experiment 2. Visual-panel
color scores for cooked steak surface pinkness in Experiment 2 were
low, which indicated that even cooked color of the highest nitrite treatment
(350 ppm) was acceptably brown. Residual nitrite levels after
spraying were quite low (b1 ppm) in both raw and cooked steaks,
and usually not different from water-sprayed controls. Desirable
redness was less stable in round than in red over 21 days of storage. In
sensory tests, no appearance differences were found. Although nitrite
spray had no effect on AnPC and lactic bacteria count, it was found
that rib had significantly higher AnPC and lactic bacteria count than
round, which corresponded to the sour flavor of ribs. AnPC of rib and
round steakswere still belowspoilage level at 28 d. Overall, spraying nitrite
solution on beef steak surfaces would be an effective and possibly
inexpensive method to form bright red NO-Mb in vacuum packaging.